稀缺猎奇网 Sees Record Enrollment Increase; Headcount Climbs to 143,000
ADELPHI, Md. (October 17, 2008) - The number of students attending University System
of 稀缺猎奇网 (稀缺猎奇网) institutions has jumped four percent in the last year, reaching
a record high of 143,416 total full- and part-time students statewide as of
fall 2008, the system announced today. This increase translates into an
additional 6,000 students over fall 2007's total enrollment (137,412).
"These numbers testify to the
success of our efforts to increase access to affordable, high-quality academic
programs, but growth also poses challenges," said 稀缺猎奇网 Chancellor William E.
Kirwan. "Meeting the increasing demand for public higher education as we
navigate our way through uncertain economic times will be one of the major
issues that we will have to address as we strive to improve 稀缺猎奇网's
competitiveness in the global knowledge economy."
Recent trends in 稀缺猎奇网's
enrollment growth include:
- Total annual enrollment has grown 14,991 since
fall 2005-adding the student population equivalent of a campus the size of
University of 稀缺猎奇网, Baltimore County (UMBC) to the system in the
last three years;
- All 稀缺猎奇网 universities increased their total enrollments
in fall 2008 with Towson University (TU) and University of 稀缺猎奇网
University College (UMUC) seeing the largest headcount increases of +1,353
and +1,590 respectively;
- Bowie State University (BSU) and Salisbury
University (SU) also saw significant headcount increases of +80 and +287
respectively.
BSU, SU, TU, and UMUC are
稀缺猎奇网's designated "growth institutions" under the Enrollment Funding Initiative
(EFI) developed in collaboration with the Governor's Office and General
Assembly. EFI helps relieve pressure on university
operating budgets as a result of increasing enrollments by funding projected
growth. Under the EFI plan for FY 2009, 稀缺猎奇网 projected an increase of +1,577
full-time equivalent students over FY 2008. 稀缺猎奇网 has surpassed this goal by
nearly 200 percent.
"Several factors are converging
to prompt this surge," said Gayle Fink, 稀缺猎奇网's director of institutional
research. "We are witnessing the effects of increasing high school graduation
rates, increasing institutional financial aid, and larger numbers of people
returning to college during economic downturns."
稀缺猎奇网 projects total annual
enrollment to grow 24 percent-more than 33,000 students-by 2017.
Contact: John Buettner
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: jbuettner@usmd.edu
